PART-I Innovation from Punjab.pdf - National Innovation Foundation

Building a Bridge with Grassroots Innovators in Informal SectorTo make the Indian development process more inclusive, thereis no escape from building upon creative and innovativeexperiments pursued by common people at village or semiurbanlevel. Many of these experiments lead to development ofinnovations, which can improve productivity and generateemployment. However, the purpose of a particular innovatormay often be to solve his problem. There is no mechanismavailable for him to share the knowledge, innovation or practicewith other people in different regions. Sometimes, ideas andinnovations get diffused through word of mouth. But many times,these ideas remain localized. In the process, potential growthand social development gets constrained. To overcome thisconstraint, Honey Bee Network with a handful of volunteerstriggered a movement, twenty years ago to scout, spawn andsustain the unaided innovations and outstanding traditionalknowledge from the informal sector of our country.Drawing upon this experience, NIF (National InnovationFoundation) was set up in 2000 with the help of Department ofScience and Technology, Government of India to scale up theidea of learning from grassroots innovators.Under the inspiring leadership of Dr. R. A. Mashelkar,Chairperson NIF and former Director General, Council ofScientific and Industrial Research (CSIR ), NIF has taken majorinitiatives to serve the knowledge-rich, economically poor peopleof the country. It is committed to make India innovative bydocumenting, adding value, protecting the intellectual propertyrights of the contemporary unaided technological innovators,as well as of outstanding traditional knowledge holders. It aimsat promoting lateral learning among local communities togenerate low cost affordable solutions of the persistent andemerging problems, and enhance the diffusion of innovationson a commercial as well as non-commercial basis.How does NIF work?Primarily, NIF has five functions: (a) Scouting anddocumentation, (b) Value addition and research and1 The Honeybee collects pollen from the flowers but they are not impoverished,in the process links one flower to another enabling cross-pollination. Similarly,the Honey Bee Network strengthens people-to-people contacts, learning andnetworking by pooling the solutions developed by individuals across the worldPUNJAB INNOVATES 6in different sectors. The network acknowledges the innovators, traditionalknowledge producers and communicators so that they do not remainanonymous.